1864
SIR MOSES RECEIVES THE THANKS OF THE CITY OF LONDON--THE
PROJECTED SURVEY OF JERUSALEM--BAD NEWS FROM
ROME, HAMADAN, AND JAFFA--ENDOWMENT OF JUDITH
COLLEGE, RAMSGATE--DEATH OF LORD PALMERSTON.
_Thursday, October 6th._--We meet Sir Moses in the Guildhall,
surrounded by the most influential merchants and bankers of the City
of London, standing before the Lord Mayor, and receiving from him the
resolution of thanks voted by the Corporation.
The Lord Mayor, addressing Sir Moses, who remained standing on the dais
during the ceremony, said:
"Sir Moses Montefiore, this Court, as representing the citizens of
London, has from time immemorial voted the freedom of this City to
distinguished naval commanders and to renowned soldiers, who have
prized the honour exceedingly. It has also voted the freedom to
statesmen, to patriots, to philanthropists, and to those who have
devoted their time, their energies, and their money to alleviate
the sufferings of humanity. (Cheers.) To you, Sir Moses Montefiore,
a distinguished member of the Hebrew community, this great city
has voted a resolution of thanks, expressive of their approval of
the consistent course you have pursued for a long series of years,
of the sacrifices you have made, of the time you have spent, and
of the wearisome journeys you have endured, in order not only to
alleviate the sufferings of your co-religionists, but at the same
time to alleviate the sufferings and miseries of people of all creeds
and denominations (Cheers.) It gives me great pleasure, Sir Moses
Montefiore, to be the medium of presenting to you this resolution,
and of congratulating you upon being enrolled among those whom this
city has thought worthy to receive the tribute of their respect and
admiration. (Cheers.) This city has at all times been most anxious
on all occasions to evince its sympathy with suffering humanity,
irrespective of creed, of colour, and of country, and I beg to shake
you by the hand." (Cheers.)
Sir Moses Montefiore replied:
"Lord Mayor and Gentlemen of the Corporation, I am so deeply
impressed by the high compliment you have just been pleased to offer
me that I fear my emotion will incapacitate me from conveying to you
in adequate terms my thanks and gratitude.
"Vividly recalling how many, distinguished by their brilliant
achievements, in war, in science, in art, and by general service to
mankind, have enjoyed in your hall the cordial reception with which
you have this day greeted me, my heart glows with feelings of delight
that you have estimated so favourably my humble endeavours in the
cause of humanity.
"The Imperial edict which, through the Divine blessing, I had the
happiness to obtain from His Sheriffian Majesty the Sultan of
Morocco, securing to the Jews and Christians in his dominions the
same rights and privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of his
subjects, constitutes a bright epoch in the history of that Empire,
and must assuredly tend to advance its prosperity.
"Permit me to present for your acceptance a copy of this important
edict, and beg for it a record in the minutes of your Court.
"Mindful of my long and valued association with the Corporation of
the City of London, and of the high and responsible office to which
I was elected by the confidence of my fellow-citizens in the first
year of the reign of our beloved Queen, and remembering how nobly and
how successfully your ancient Corporation has toiled for religious
freedom, I am the more gratified by the distinguished honour I
have this day received--an honour I shall ever bear in grateful
remembrance.
"My Lord Mayor and Gentlemen. I thank you most heartily for your
kindness, and I offer you my earnest wishes for the continued
prosperity of this great Corporation, and for your individual
welfare."
Sir Moses, accompanied by the mover of the resolution, Mr Alderman (now
Sir) Benjamin Phillips, then retired from the hall amidst the cheers
and applause of the numbers who had assembled to witness the gratifying
scene.
A copy of the resolution, beautifully emblazoned with the city arms,
as well as those of the Lord Mayor and Sir Moses, and surrounded by
paintings representing the Missions of Sir Moses, may be seen in the
Lecture Hall of the College. It is greatly admired by visitors for its
elegant execution.
"Nothing," Sir Moses observes in his Diary, "could have exceeded
the courtesy of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council. I was
delighted with the Lord Mayor's address, and I am happy to say they
were pleased with my reply."
A copy of the edict of His Sheriffian Majesty and Sir Moses' speech had
been entered in the minutes of the Court, and a copy sent to each of
the members.
Sir Moses then attended the afternoon and evening service at the
Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, receiving congratulations from all
present.
In the Court Circular, dated Windsor Castle, June 20th, we find a
notice:
"His Highness Mustapha Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador, and Sir Moses
Montefiore arrived at the Castle to-day from London.
"Sir Moses Montefiore had an audience of Her Majesty."
We may infer, from the gracious receptions which Her Majesty on several
former occasions had given to Sir Moses, that, in the present instance,
she did not fail to manifest her approbation of his Mission to Morocco.
_September 25th._--We meet him at his favourite retreat, Smithembottom.
"I have great cause," he says, "for thankfulness. Since I was here in
November last, I hope that, by Divine blessing, I have been of some use
to my fellow-creatures, both Jews and Christians, and, I believe I may
add, 'Moors.' To God alone, who helped and sustained me, be honour and
glory. I believe that my dear Judith would have approved my conduct,
and, sure I am, had it pleased an all-wise Providence to have spared
her, she would have shared my fatigue and dangers, but it was otherwise
ordained, and I can only submit with humble spirit to the decree of
Heaven. My angel guide of so many happy years being no longer with me
on earth in mortal form, I sincerely pray the God of Israel to be my
guide, and to permit her heavenly spirit to comfort me, and keep me
in the right path, so that I may become deserving of the happiness
to rejoin her in Heaven when it shall please God to call me from the
world."
"A visit to Smithembottom," he remarks in his Diary, "is now to me very
similar to that of the solemn 'Day of Atonement,' with the exception of
fasting. I hope hours spent in serious reflection on the past incidents
of a long life tend to make me better, and constitute a great moral
lesson."
Sir Moses now contemplated establishing a college for the study of
theology and Biblical literature in Jerusalem. "I have," he says,
"with, I hope, the Divine blessing, resolved on establishing in the
Holy Land, in memory of my ever-lamented and blessed wife, a college
(Beth Hamedrásh), with ten members, to erect ten houses with gardens
for their dwelling, with a certain yearly allowance to them, and to
purchase and send them a good Hebrew library for their use." He hoped
to go there and purchase the land, and to lay the foundation-stone.
This idea, however, he soon relinquished for a similar institution in
Ramsgate, to which I shall have an opportunity further on in this work
to direct the attention of the reader.
_December 7th._--He received from Mr (now) Lord Hammond, of the
Foreign Office, by permission of Lord Russell, despatches from Sir
John Drummond Hay, and a letter from him, addressed to Sir Moses, also
despatches for his perusal from Athens and Corfu, all of which were
most satisfactory. "It was, indeed," Sir Moses says, "truly kind of
Earl Russell and Mr Hammond to favour me with the perusal of them."
Earl Russell, as well as all his successors at the Foreign Office,
have repeatedly afforded him opportunities to read despatches received
from their Ambassadors and Consuls at Foreign Courts, whenever they
contained any important communication regarding the Jews.
Sir Moses was enabled to attend his meetings in the city,
notwithstanding the great fatigue he had undergone during his
journey, and was as ready and eager as ever with his suggestions for
improvements in any measure of financial importance.
On the recurrence of the anniversary of his birthday, which this year
was the eightieth, he sent his usual gifts to communal schools and
charities in England, as well as to those in the Holy Land, conveying
to the latter his hope to pay them another visit soon.
Some readers who have attentively perused the narrative of Sir Moses'
Mission to Morocco, will perhaps say that since the issuing of the
Sultan's edict twenty-three years ago, His Sheriffian Majesty's
commands contained therein do not seem to have been very strictly
adhered to. The Moors say, and apparently with good reason, "To promise
is not the same as to perform." Their observation seems just, when
we find that, notwithstanding the promises made by the Sultan to Sir
Moses, he continued to receive complaints from almost every Hebrew
community of the oppression and ill-treatment to which they had been
subjected. Still one must bear in mind, that even in European countries
rights and privileges granted by a sovereign would be many a time,
intentionally or unintentionally, withdrawn from loyal subjects by
those appointed to carry out the will of the reigning monarch, were
it not for the numerous votaries of the cause of justice who are ever
ready to bring before the court those who thus wilfully violate the
rights of others. But such is not the case in Morocco. Even the lovers
of justice cannot always succeed in making known to the Sultan the
acts of cruelty committed by the local governors or military officers.
As this would necessitate long and tedious journeys before reaching
the Palace, and should they reach it in safety, there is yet another
difficulty to encounter in procuring evidence, witnesses being in
general very reluctant to testify against any man in power. Thus it
happens that injustice is practised by some of the local governors with
impunity; but there is every reason to believe that the Sultan himself,
as far as lay in his power, strictly adhered to the words of the edict.
The Sultan gave his word in the presence of the representative of the
English Government, and would not, if reminded of it by Her Majesty's
Government, withdraw his promise.
_East Cliff, February 6th._--Sir Moses, being anxious to see if
anything could be done through the medium of the English officers of
engineers then at Jerusalem, with regard to the water supply there, he
proceeded to London. "In spite of old age and weakness," he says, "I
would willingly undergo any fatigue and risk to benefit Jerusalem."
He called at Adam Street for a copy of the resolution on the subject
passed by the Committee of the Syrian Relief Fund during his absence,
went to the Athenæum to see Mr John Freeland, and called on Sir John
Macneil.
_February 9th._--He went to Southampton on a visit to the Ordnance
Survey Office, where he had a long interview with Sir Henry James
with reference to the survey of Jerusalem, then being carried out by
a party of engineers belonging to that department--a work in which,
as may readily be imagined, Sir Moses took the deepest interest. Sir
Henry presented him with a beautiful photograph of the wailing wall at
Jerusalem, with which Sir Moses expressed himself highly gratified.
_February 15th._--He attended a meeting of the Syrian Improvement Fund
Committee, Mr Layard, Mr Hodgkin, and several other members being
present, when £100 was voted for the use of Captain Wilson and the
engineers at Jerusalem towards the expenses of excavations, &c., for
the purpose of finding a mode of providing Jerusalem with a better
supply of water.
_February 16th._--Count P. de Strezelski wrote a letter, by desire
of Miss Coutts (now Baroness Burdett-Coutts), to learn whether they
could venture on some steps to improve the lamentable and humiliating
state of the Jewish community at Rome. In spite of the snow, Sir Moses
went to see the Count, and told him that he believed no good could be
achieved by agitation; but perhaps a mild and very quiet application,
personally made at Rome on behalf of the Jews, might be successful. "I
would," Sir Moses says, "if this plan was favourably received, go at my
own personal expense to Rome."
The Count, wishing to have Miss Coutts' advice, and Sir Moses being
himself desirous of expressing to her his thanks for her kind and
benevolent solicitude for the welfare of his co-religionists, they
drove to Piccadilly, but as Miss Coutts was not at home, the Count
promised to see her in the evening, and report to Sir Moses by letter
to Ramsgate.
Sir Moses then called on the President and Secretary of the Board of
Deputies in reference to the same subject. Both agreed with them as to
the impossibility of moving the Pope by public agitation, and would not
express any hope that good could in any way be obtained for the Jewish
inhabitants at Rome. However, Sir Moses says, "I am ready at all risk
to try it, if the mode I suggest shall meet with the approval of Earl
Russell, and I have his powerful support in my Mission. No time should
be lost."
_March 25th._--An alarming letter reached him from the Hebrew community
at Hamadan (the ancient city of Shooshan) in Persia. They were
suffering terribly from persecutions by the Persians, and appealed to
him for his intercession with the Shah in their behalf. "The weather
has been very rough and cold, with rain, wind, and sleet," he writes.
"I could not sleep last night for thinking of our poor suffering
brethren in Persia." Early in the morning he commenced making inquiries
regarding travelling in Persia, and left East Cliff for London to take
the letter he had received to the Chief Rabbi, who, he found, had
already received a similar one.
In order to gather further information regarding Persian affairs, he
went to see the lady whose son he had placed at the Bluecoat School,
and who was well acquainted with Teheran. "I found her," he says, "a
very intelligent woman, about forty years of age. She first went to
Persia when she was thirteen years old, and married there. She lived
in Persia twenty-six years, and had been to England three times during
that period. She went from Liverpool to Constantinople by sea, was then
about ten days on the Black Sea, and afterwards journeyed one thousand
miles on horseback to Teheran. She described the climate as being good,
but very hot in summer--too hot to travel by day."
_March 28th._--He called on Mr Layard (now Sir Austen H. Layard),
presenting him with his (Sir Austen's) bust, which Sir Moses had
ordered of Mr Wiener, a distinguished sculptor of Brussels. Sir Austen
received it with great pleasure. Sir Moses spoke of the letter from
Hamadan, and offered to go there to obtain a firman from the Shah,
if Sir Austen would give him letters. Sir Austen said he should have
every assistance, and as many letters as he wished, if he went, and
that he would write to Mr Alison, our representative at the Court at
Teheran. Sir Moses then gave him the translation of the Hamadan letter,
which Sir Austen read with great attention. Sir Moses said he intended
to start on the 1st of May, upon which Sir Austen informed him that
Mr Alison should be instructed to afford him every assistance and
information as to the best mode of reaching the capital.
"But could not some plan be found to save you from so long and
dangerous a journey?" asked Sir Austen. He proposed that Sir Moses
should write in his own name to the Shah, and state what he had
obtained from the Sultan at Constantinople and the Sultan of Morocco in
favour of their Jewish subjects, and to send him copies of the firman
and edict, with a petition for a similar edict from him. Sir Austen
said he would forward Sir Moses' letter to the British Minister at
Teheran to present it to the Shah, which he thought would answer the
purpose, and save him great fatigue and risk.
Sir Austen presented him with a most beautiful copy of his large
work, containing an account of his researches in connection with the
excavations at Babylon. Sir Moses asked for one of his smaller works
instead, but Sir Austen said, "You have had your way, and now I must
have mine." After mature consideration, and acting upon the advice
of Sir Austen, Sir Moses gave up the idea of a journey to Persia,
but wrote an address to the Shah, praying for a firman in favour of
his brethren, and Lord Russell was good enough to forward it to its
destination through Mr Alison, the British Minister at Teheran.
Having abandoned the scheme of building a Theological College in
Jerusalem, he was determined to have one near his Synagogue in
Ramsgate, in memory of his wife, and made an agreement with this
object with a local builder. "May God in His mercy and goodness," he
prays, "grant that the inhabitants of the intended College may devote
themselves to the study of His Holy Laws, and may they find peace and
happiness in their dwellings." On Saturday evening, the 24th of June,
the eve of the new moon of Tamuz, 5625 A.M., he laid the foundation
stone of the College, in the presence of his relatives and friends.
In the same month he made the first remittance of £50 to the inmates
of the Juda Touro Almshouses in Jerusalem. In the succeeding years he
considerably increased these remittances, and continued forwarding them
up to his death. To Mr Hyde Clarke of Smyrna he sent a similar sum, to
be distributed by that gentleman among the indigent sick at that place;
and to Jerusalem he forwarded a case of medicines for the Dispensary.
_August the 27th._--Sir Moses had scarcely despatched his appeal to
the Shah on behalf of his brethren at Hamadan, in Persia, when a
heartrending cry came from the Holy Land, an unusual combination of
misfortunes having befallen them. "No rain had fallen for many months,
the harvest was spoilt, locusts covered the ground for miles around,
the cholera had broken out in all its fury, famine and plague reigned
supreme in the Holy Cities.
"The fatal disease commenced its ravages on the coast of Egypt, and
raged furiously in Alexandria; with intense virulence it advanced to
the city of Jaffa, and devastated it. The corpses of the dead lay in
the streets unburied, the living fled on every side, and the once
bustling seaport town was stricken with terror and awed into silence.
All the towns and villages between Jaffa and Jerusalem were affected.
The gates of the latter were closed, so that none could come out or go
in. The city was in a state of siege, and the inspectors of quarantine
surrounded it.
"The representatives of all the congregations combined to do all in
their power to alleviate the distress, but their funds were exhausted,
the plague showed no signs of abating, and they sent forth their
piteous cry for help to their brethren abroad."
The Chief Rabbi and Sir Moses at once invited the attention of the
London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews to the distressing
condition of the Jews in Palestine, asking their powerful aid, and
suggesting that they should issue an appeal to all the congregations in
the British Empire. To this the Board of Deputies readily agreed, and
immediately published an appeal in all the leading papers. The result
was most satisfactory. The contributions to the appeal fund amounted
to a large sum, and, knowing the willingness of Sir Moses to assist
personally in the administration of the same, the Board invited him to
proceed to Jerusalem for that purpose.
Sir Moses, without hesitation, disregarding his advanced age and feeble
state of his health, accepted the invitation, and promised to proceed
to the Holy City as soon as the necessary preparations for such a
journey would permit.
Before giving the reader a full account of this fresh journey to the
Holy Land, I have still to bring to his notice some entries in his
Diary of the current year.
_October 19th._--"The _Times_ of to-day," he writes, "gave me the
mournful intelligence of the death of that great and good man, Lord
Palmerston. I most sincerely grieve at his loss. I have had very many
interviews with his Lordship, and he was on every occasion most kind
and friendly. He was ever ready to attend to any representation I had
to make on behalf of the Board of Deputies. On my return from Morocco,
the last time I spoke to him, he was kindness itself. Peace to his
honest soul. May he rest in Heaven."
_November 1st._--Sir Moses endowed the Judith College; and on the 15th
of the same month he considered the constitution of the same, which he
subsequently submitted to his friends to ascertain their views on the
subject.
_December 31st._--Notwithstanding the severity of the weather, he
frequently went to town and attended the meetings of companies and
associations.